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Topic: Little confused about flour dusting (Read 1146 times)

I know that in order to shape the dough into a pie, its good to put some flour on the countertop to keep the dough from sticking. I even saw a video where Tom actually dropped the dough into the flour. But then I read somewhere else that having fresh flour on the outside of your dough when it goes into the oven will make the crust taste sour, which is one reason you should use rice flour or corn meal on your peel (which also makes the pie slide better). How can you use regular flour for shaping out the pie without it sticking to the bottom and making the crust taste sour?

The other day I made Tom's standard NY pizza recipe, let it rise in the fridge for three days, and then spread it into a pie using general all purpose flour on the counter. Then I used rice flour on my peel to slide it into the oven. It tasted pretty sour. I have another dough ball made in the same batch and it doesn't smell sour. Which made me wonder if the sourness perhaps came from all purpose flour on the bottom from when I shaped the dough into the pie.

Sour? Flour adhering to the dough will not give the finished crust a sour taste, but it will impart a bitterness to the crust, maybe that's what you mean? As you handle the dough, during the forming process, you should find that you really don't need much more flour after the first "dunk" in the flour bowl, as you continue to shape the dough the dough will have a dry skin and much of the excess flour will simply fall off. A light dusting of flour on the dough is normal. We have our annual pizza seminar coming up next week and I'll try to see if I can get some video footage shot showing the dough balls being opened into pizza skins.Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor